This is pure Rove, straight from the playbook...CONFUSE THE ISSUE

[Atman]

So what if Aldrich Ames and Bill Clinton have absolutely nothing to do with the George Bush domestic spying scandal? As long as we keep bringing it up and lending it credence, it distracts everybody from looking at what Bush has done, because suddenly every reporter is assigned to research this Clinton angle. For christ fucking sake, I am sooooo sick of this shit. We fall for it every time.

[LSparkle]

1. And I think the Ames searches were by the FBI, not NSA ...

The FBI has some Congressional/governmental oversight, whereas NSA is TOTALLY unaccountable. There IS a difference between allowing FBI and the NSA.

[DBoon]

2. and this is why the NSA was never supposed to spy on Americans

the NSA is supposed to gather intelligence, not obtain criminal evidence. Never, ever.

[JAbuchan08]

3. It doesn't matter if congress approved it,

it doesn't matter if Clinton did it too. It doesn't matter what Albert Gonzales says. It doesn't matter if Hillary Clinton called Bush one night and urged him to do it against his better judgement. It doesn't matter if 349,999,999 Americans agree with it. It is still illegal.

[blogslut]

4. It's not us falling for it

I'm worried about. It's those people that pay fleeting attention to this stuff I'm worried about. These are the people that are influenced by soundbites and short retorts.

I knew when they tried to out Valerie Plame that her CIA connection was beside the point. But somehow, it seemed to defeat the truth of his (Joe Wilson's) message when it played in the sticks.

edit: typos